Siri Mitchell - Chateau of Echoes

day of Saint Matthieu

When my lord rendered me a visit this night, I demanded of him to tell me the part that rests of the story of King Marc’h.

He replied to me that he has told me the story, the two weeks which have passed.

And this confused me for he had told me he would tell me more of the story of Arthur King of Bretons when he had begun the story of King Marc’h.

And then my lord remembered to himself that he had not finished the story. What he added is the follow:

After leaving his kingdom, King Marc’h has crossed the Channel and is living with his cousin who is Arthur King of Bretons. And Arthur demands of Marzin if the spell placed on the king cannot be broken. And Marzin replies to him that he cannot break the spell, but he can make it less. And he gives King Marc’h a potion that disappears the mane and the ears of the horse so long as he is in Britain. But if the king ever returns to Bretagne, then the mane and the ears must again appear. And so King Marc’h takes the potion and then Arthur gives him the kingdom of Cornwall for to rule.

One day King Marc’h has word that his brother-in-law, Rivalen, has been killed by a duc named Morgan. And also, his sister is dead of grief. But before she had died, she has borne a son. And all the world is ignorant of what has become of this child.

Many years after, a handsome boy appears in Cornwall. He is a strong warrior with all the skills of a chevalier, and he becomes the favorite of King Marc’h. The boy is called only Tristan and knows not his family.

At this time here, a Breton noble is searching an adopted son who was taken of him by pirates. And he is told of Tristan who is arrived in Cornwall. And this noble comes to King Marc’h and explains to him that Tristan is the son of Rivalen, and that the noble had hidden him from duc Morgan while making of him a chevalier.

And because it has been revealed that Tristan is the nephew of the king, the king takes the decision to leave his kingdom to Tristan when he will die.

The jealous nobles demand that the king must marry and have an heir of himself. King Marc’h wants no other heir than Tristan, but he is fatigued by the complaints of the nobles. And in seeing a long golden hair that has been dropped by a bird, he tells the nobles he will do as they demand of him as soon as they will find the owner of the long fair hair. He will marry no other.

And the nobles agree if the king will tell them to whom the hair is belonged and in which country she must live.

And the King replies to them to demand of the bird who has dropped it.

But Tristan knows the owner of the hair. Before he is come to Cornwall, he has killed a monster in Ireland and this monster is the uncle of a girl named Yseult. And the Irlandais will kill him if they will see him, but because of his loyalty to his uncle, he searches for Yseult. For he knows he must not advance in power only because his uncle cannot advance.

But when Tristan has convinced Yseult to return with him to Cornwall, they have drunk a love potion in mistake and ever after they are bound by a passion they can neither comprehend nor rid themselves of. And the encounter of Tristan and Yseult brings much unhappiness to everyone who once has loved them. It brings exile for them both and sends Tristan to the kingdom of Arthur. And, at end, it must bring death to the lovers.

But at this moment here, I demanded of my lord what has happened to King Marc’h?

My lord replied to me that for cause of the betrayal of the two persons he has most loved, he will return to Bretagne and take again the mane and the ears of a horse. He retakes his throne, but he is never the same king as before. He is destined to excess in debauchery as well as excess in charity.

But that, my lord says me, is another story. And it will not be told this night.

four days after Saint Dynys

My lord began the proper story of Arthur King of the Bretons. This I already heard many times, but it is not polite for me to say this, and so I listened. Here is how he told me it:

It is told that the great king lived here, in Brocéliande. He was born of King Uther. As his mother was not the queen, King Uther gave his son to a chevalier who trained Arthur in all the arts of war so that when he is grown, he can also be a chevalier. When Arthur had sixteen years, his true father, King Uther, died without an heir.

At the death of King Uther, the leaders of the clans demanded of Marzin the Magician, to name them a new king. Marzin answered them to wait until heaven touches earth, the dead come back to life, and those who cannot speak are given voice.

One day, in the parvis in front of the cathédrale in a place which had been empty, a stone appeared with a handsome sword sunk into its mass. This stone was not like those of the country. It was so large that no man could move it and it had writing on it so strange that no man could read it. And all the people came to see it.

It was Marzin, the last one to come, and the first one to be able to read what the stone would say. It was written on the stone: The one who is able to take from the stone this sword is the one who must be king. Marzin remembered to them that neither family of birth nor richness make nothing to do with the decision of who must be king. It is for the store to decide to whom it will yield the sword.

Each of the leaders stepped up to the stone and placed his hands around the sword, but each of the leaders failed to pull it from the stone. After all of the leaders had not succeeded, it was given to any person to try to take the sword. Many of the men of the town tried this, but none of them, even not the smith, had success. At this, the leaders made their sons try. And after the sons had failed, then the sons of the men of the town were given it to try. And after, even the servants and their sons. And then even the most young, those who could not yet walk, were let to try. And finally, although all had tried, none had succeeded, and still the sword remained in the stone.

At this moment here, Arthur was searching a sword for the chevalier who had kept him since birth. When he walked into the parvis and saw the sword sunk into the stone, he demanded if it did not belong to any person. When he was replied that it did not, Arthur placed his hand on the sword and pulled it from the stone. At this, Marzin named him King of Bretons.

At this, the people of the town are very happy, for they have known Arthur and he has lived among them, but the leaders are unhappy and they demand of Marzin that Arthur return the sword to the stone so that they might try once more to succeed in pulling it out. Once more, all of the leaders try at this and fail. And the men of the town try and fail. And then the sons of the leaders try once more without finding success, as well, the sons of the men of the town. And still, once more, the servants and their sons are given to try and when they also fail, then the young and babies are given a chance. Again, as before, it is Arthur the only one who has success.

But even at this, the leaders refuse him as their king until Marzin says them that Arthur is, in actuality, the son of Uther. At this, Arthur gathers a great army made not of the sons of the leaders, but of the sons of the people of the town and Arthur leads his army with Kaledvoulc’h, his sword; Gweneb-Gourzhuc’her, his shield; and Rongomyant, his lance.

My lord began to tell me more, but I found myself falling into sleep. He saved the rest of the story for the next time.

I dreamt this night that someone came beside me and combed through my hair with their fingers all the long of the night.

This seems to me bizarre because it is normal that I do not remember my dreams.

one day before Saint André

Anne demands me of the feast of Noël, what I would like served. I am ignorant of the customs of the Bretons and I cannot remember what was served this past year. I do not know why she demands this of me so I have given her permission to do as she likes.